Bailing Out the Ailing Airlines

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Bailing Out the Ailing Airlines

WASHINGTON – Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said on Tuesday the Bush administration hoped to have a U.S. airline bailout proposal ready by early next week.

Mineta, speaking after a White House meeting between Bush economic and budget advisers and airline executives, said the administration had received the necessary information from the industry to proceed with a financial rescue plan.

He did not say whether that plan would match the $24 billion sought by the industry, which has warned the White House and Congress that it is facing dire financial hardship.

Mineta, who was joined by Delta Air Lines chief executive Leo Mullin, said final details would have to be worked out with both houses of Congress, and he hoped lawmakers would act quickly.

The attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon last Tuesday grounded U.S. commercial aviation for two days, prompted costly new security steps and left many people afraid to fly.

Mullin said the industry had almost no revenue in the last three or four days of last week, and would probably take in no more than 40 percent to 50 percent of normal revenues in the next few days.

Mineta said details of the aid plan had to be worked out, but said there was "some recognition" that airlines should be "made whole" for losses directly related to the attacks. The industry wants $5 billion in compensation for those losses.

"What we do on the balance of the project, or the package, that is something we're going to have to look at," Mineta said.

Mullin said the $24 billion was an estimate that could be required through the summer of next year.

"We are working on plans with the administration that could in fact yield that much but perhaps less and we all hope it will be less," Mullin said.

After the White House meeting, airline executives met with congressional leaders from both houses and both parties.